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Lunenburg TM: Yes to everything, including balanced school budget

By M.E. Jones, Correspondent

Updated:
05/04/2014 06:32:02 AM EDT

LUNENBURG -- With 211 voters present, according to a count Town Moderator Timothy Murphy announced midway through the four-hour session, Town Meeting said yes to just about everything on the 30-article warrant, save for a handful of items passed over on request. Most votes were unanimous.

Motions on Articles 1-6, reauthorizations of various revolving funds categorized as the "consent calendar," passed unanimously without discussion.

Articles 7, 8 and 9 also gained unanimous approval without discussion as voters agreed to "hear" and accept reports submitted by town departments, boards and committees; to pay bills left over from the previous year and to adjust the fiscal 2014 budget via various line-item transfers.

Articles 10-13 were passed over because the collective-bargaining units each one applied to had not reached agreements with the town, including firefighters, DPW laborers, DPW management and municipal employees unions.

Article 14, the Capital Improvements Plan, was also unanimously approved without discussion and endorsed by selectmen and the Finance Committee. With projects totaling more than $1.1 million, funding sources included money reallocated from several "relatively small" articles passed at previous Town Meetings, and borrowing.

After a comprehensive presentation, a motion on article 15, purchase of the Lane property, also passed unanimously.

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By unanimous votes, articles 16 and 17 quickly passed, authorizing the establishment of a school transportation offset account to receive and use money collected from bus fees and transferring money to the stabilization fund to maintain the balance set by policy, which is 5 percent of the total town budget.

Next up, the $29,079,384 omnibus budget. The motion on Article 18 passed by a large majority after lengthy discussion and debate, most of it centered on the $27,000 gap between the school budget as submitted versus the amount recommended by Town Manager Kerry Speidel and supported by selectmen and the Finance Committee. The latter, lower amount represented a balanced budget, Speidel explained in her presentation.

School Superintendent Loxi Jo Calmes made a case for the higher amount and several people spoke for it, but in the end voters agreed to fund the balanced budget.

Article 19 also passed, creating the new position of land use director, to be filled in July with a salary up to $85,000.

Motions on Articles 20-25 all passed unanimously, all but one without much to say in their presentation beyond what was presented in the warrant. The exception was Article 25, a $2.2 million sewer construction project that will be mostly funded by a low-interest state loan program that will be paid off with betterments and extending existing sewer lines to areas of town identified in a comprehensive study as needing access to a municipal sewer system, including Pratt Street and the Lakeview area around Lake Whalom.

Sewer Commission Chairman Carl Luck said the project will have zero impact on taxpayers and passed muster with the required two-thirds of the 80 residents whose homes are located in the designated area and whose betterment bills will cover the cost over time.

Kevin Olsen, the engineer working on the project, offered technical details.

A Whiting Street resident asked what the betterment range would be. If apportioned evenly among the 80 homes, it would be about $27,000 each, Luck replied.

The motion passed unanimously.

Articles 26-29, all proposed bylaw amendments, were also approved unanimously, including a new right-to-farm bylaw and a bylaw requiring a special permit from the Planning Board for registered medical marijuana facilities.

Article 29, a proposal to accept White Tail Crossing as a town road, was passed over because the plan wasn't ready.

The last item on the warrant, Article 30, was inserted by citizen's petition. The petitioner was Donna Williams, owner of Kabob-E-Licious, a restaurant on Massachusetts Avenue specializing in Mediterranean, Spanish and Indian fusion dishes.

Williams said acceptance of the article would allow her to serve cordials and liqueurs at the restaurant rather than only wine and beer but not including "all alcohol." As a first-time restaurateur, she wants to offer "something different to my customers," Williams said. The motion quickly passed by unanimous vote.

The moderator applauded the grass-roots effort, with participation in the Town Meeting process. "We want to encourage" citizens to come forward, he said.

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